Sen. Johnson: Defense Secretary Austin Must Explain Concerning Increases in Medical Diagnoses in DoD Database

Source: United States Senator for Wisconsin Ron Johnson

WASHINGTON – On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), ranking member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin after a Department of Defense (DoD) whistleblower provided the Senator’s office with new information showing concerning increases in certain registered diagnoses on the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED).

Based on the whistleblower data, the most significant increases in registered diagnoses on DMED in 2021 compared to a five-year average from 2016-2020 are as follows:

  • Myocarditis, unspecified: 130.5% increase
  • Malignant neoplasms of esophagus: 56.6% increase
  • Pulmonary embolism: 41.2% increase
  • Ovarian dysfunction: 38.2% increase
  • Complications and ill-defined descriptions of heart disease: 37.7% increase

In addition to this concerning data, the whistleblower’s information appears to conflict with information that DoD previously provided Sen. Johnson regarding increases in registered medical diagnoses on DMED. 

Read more about the letter in the Epoch Times.

The full text of the letter can be found here and below.

March 21, 2023

The Honorable Lloyd J. Austin III

Secretary

Department of Defense

Dear Secretary Austin:

                Over the last year, I have been examining data integrity issues on the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED).  A Department of Defense (DoD) whistleblower recently provided my office with new information showing concerning increases in certain registered diagnoses on DMED in 2021 compared to a five-year average from 2016-2020.  The whistleblower downloaded the DMED data over a year after the DoD admitted that DMED data had been corrupted and was later apparently fixed.[1]

                Based on the whistleblower data, the most significant increases in registered diagnoses on DMED in 2021 compared to a five-year average from 2016-2020 are as follows:[2]

  • Myocarditis, unspecified: 130.5% increase
  • Malignant neoplasms of esophagus: 56.6% increase
  • Pulmonary embolism: 41.2% increase
  • Ovarian dysfunction: 38.2% increase
  • Complications and ill-defined descriptions of heart disease: 37.7% increase

               In addition to this concerning data, the whistleblower’s information appears to conflict with information DoD previously provided my office regarding increases in registered medical diagnoses on DMED. 

               On February 1, 2022, I sent you a letter based on allegations from three DoD whistleblowers who revealed significant increases in certain registered diagnoses on DMED in 2021 compared to a five-year average from 2016-2020.[3]  In that letter, I identified 15 registered diagnoses that, according to the three DoD whistleblowers, showed significant increases in 2021 compared to the average from 2016-2020.[4]  On February 15, 2022, DoD provided my office with a chart listing the 15 registered diagnoses I had previously identified and showed the percent change in health encounters before and after DoD fixed the data issue on DMED.[5]  However, the most recent DoD whistleblower provided my office with DMED data that showed different percent changes compared to what DoD provided last year. 

               The chart below shows the data DoD provided my office and the highlighted column shows the data from the recent DoD whistleblower:

Medical Encounter Conditions

Before DoD Corrected DMED

Reported change to number of health care encounters

(2021 compared to 2016-2020 average) using erroneous data[6]

After DoD Corrected DMED

DMED query results for change to number of health care encounters

(2021 compared to 2016-2020 average) following data correction[7]

 

Recent DoD Whistleblower DMED Data

From 2023 showing change to number of health care encounters

(2021 compared to 2016-2020 average)[8]

 

Diseases of the nervous system

1,048% increase

5.7% decrease

9.5% increase

Hypertension

2,181% increase

1.9% increase

12.6% increase

Tachycardia

302% increase

8.3% decrease

4.9% increase

Testicular cancer

369% increase

3% increase

16.3% increase

Ovarian dysfunction

437% increase

23.9% increase

38.2% increase

Migraines

452% increase

1.6% increase

12.1% increase

Pulmonary embolism

468% increase

25.4% increase

41.2% increase

Female infertility

472% increase

13.2% decrease

4.3% decrease

Malignant neoplasms of thyroid and other endocrine glands

474% increase

16.1% decrease

4.3% decrease

Breast cancer

487% increase

1.1% increase

14.7% increase

Demyelinating

487% increase

17.7% decrease

8.3% decrease

Guillain?Barre syndrome

551% increase

17.2% decrease

3.2% increase

Malignant neoplasms of digestive organs

624% increase

0.2% increase

14.4% increase

Multiple sclerosis

680% increase

16.7% decrease

7.1% decrease

Malignant neoplasms of esophagus

894% increase

27.8% increase

56.6% increase

                It remains unclear how DoD calculated the percent changes for these specific registered diagnoses after the DMED data issue was allegedly fixed.  Further, the recent whistleblower data highlighted above raises additional questions as to why the whistleblower’s percent changes differ from DoD’s percent changes if the data source for both calculations was DMED. 

To better understand the apparent differences in DMED data and DoD’s response to the increases in certain registered medical diagnoses, please provide the following information as soon as possible but no later than April 4, 2023:

  1. For the February 15, 2022 document DoD provided my office, how did DoD calculate the percent change for the 15 registered diagnoses listed above? 
  2. Do the percent changes DoD provided my office in February 2022 for the 15 registered diagnoses listed above remain unchanged?  If not, why not and what are the updated percent changes?
  3. Does DoD agree with the percent changes provided by a DoD whistleblower (indicated above)?  If not, why not?
  4. What steps has DoD taken or will DoD take to investigate whether the increases in certain registered medical diagnoses, including those above, are associated with COVID-19 vaccine adverse events?

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

              Sincerely,                                                                                                            

              Ron Johnson

              Ranking Member

              Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations

 

Enclosure

 

cc:           The Honorable Richard Blumenthal

                Chairman

                Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations

 

                The Honorable Robert Storch

                Inspector General

                Department of Defense

 

                Mr. Kenneth Bonner

                President and Chief Growth Officer

                Unissant, I

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[1] On February 15, 2022, DoD informed my office that in late January 2022, it found that “the data in DMED was corrupt for the years 2016-2020 when accessed after September 2021.”  DoD claimed that this data corruption resulted in increases in registered medical diagnoses on DMED in 2021 compared to the five-year average from 2016-2020.  DoD assured my office that as of January 29, 2022, it corrected the programming error that corrupted the data and that “DMED data via the online application was restored on January 30, 2022.” See Temporary Data Inaccuracies in the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database, Dep’t of Defense, Feb. 15, 2022 (enclosed).

[2] The whistleblower data is from January 2023 and February 2023 and is sourced from the “Ambulatory Data” contained in DMED for each medical encounter noted in this letter.  For all medical encounters listed below, the whistleblower used the following criteria – Service: All; Grade: All; Data Sources: Hospitalizations Ambulatory Data Reportable Events; Gender: All; Marital Status: All; Query Type: ICD-10 Based Query Oct 2015 to present; Age: All; Time: 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021; Condition: Primary Diagnosis; Race: All; Occurrence: All Occurrences.  The whistleblower used the following ICD codes for each medical encounter: Myocarditis, unspecified: I51.4; Malignant neoplasms of esophagus: C15; Pulmonary embolism: I26; Ovarian dysfunction: E28; and complications and ill-defined descriptions of heart disease: I51.

[3] Letter from Ron Johnson, Ranking Member, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, to Lloyd Austin,

Secretary, U.S. Dep’t of Defense, Feb. 1, 2022, https://www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/services/files/FB6DDD42-4755-4FDC-BEE9-50E402911E02.

[5] Temporary Data Inaccuracies in the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database, Dep’t of Defense, Feb. 15, 2022 (enclosed).

[6] The information contained in this column is based on information from DoD whistleblowers provided in January 2022.  DoD claims that this data was based on faulty information.  Id.

[7] The information contained in this column shows the percent changes after DoD claimed it corrected the data problem in DMED.  Id.

[8] The information contained in this column is based on whistleblower DMED data from January 2023 and February 2023.  The whistleblower data is sourced from the “Ambulatory Data” contained in DMED for each medical encounter noted above.  For all medical encounters listed, the whistleblower used the following criteria – Service: All; Grade: All; Data Sources: Hospitalizations Ambulatory Data Reportable Events; Gender: All; Marital Status: All; Query Type: ICD-10 Based Query Oct 2015 to present; Age: All; Time: 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021; Condition: Primary Diagnosis; Race: All; Occurrence: All Occurrences.  The whistleblower used the following ICD codes for each medical encounter – Diseases of the nervous system: G00-G99; Hypertension: I10-I15; Tachycardia: I47; Testicular cancer: C62; Ovarian dysfunction: E28; Migraines: G43; Pulmonary embolism: I26; Female infertility: N97; Malignant neoplasms of thyroid and other endocrine glands: C73-C75; Breast cancer: C50; Demyelinating: G35-G37; Guillain?Barre syndrome: G61.0; Malignant neoplasms of digestive organs: C15-C26; Multiple sclerosis: G35; Malignant neoplasms of esophagus: C15.